FrogPrincesse

I hear you... We need to recruit Japanese cocktail nerds on eG.

Chris, I am back (and slowly going through the backlog). I wish I still had access to these little bottles, or the collection of large (and relativly cheap) ones at the airport, but that's no longer the case.

The Taketsuru Pure Malt (12 years) is quite mild with a somewhat sweet finish, so I used it in a very nice Old Fashioned with Boker's bitters and gomme syrup. The little packets of gomme they have in coffee shops in Japan came very handy for this one. A bit skimpy on the ice, but you should have seen the ice cube tray I was working with. Next time I travel, I will consider including a proper ice tray in my cocktail kit...

The Panga looks good. It reminds me of another rum drink that I like, the Rum Crawl. Similar structure but instead of being all ginger, it's part ginger, part falernum. Very nice with Appleton (I use the 12 years). How do you like the tiki bitters ?

Don Julio is solid. I also like the Siete Leguas line very much, but it's not in your list. There is a bunch of recommendations from bartenders on Serious Drinks, for sipping and mixing, high and low end.

Very cool. Thanks.

This looks very nice, PV (I like the name too). So how do you make orange cream citrate?

Mine hasn't arrived. Hopefully it did not get lost in the mail... I was very glad that Hassouni got his just in time for Christmas.

After beta cocktails' Moment of Silence, another very nice cocktail with the R&W apricot liqueur - Erick Castro's Mayan Concubine. I used this recipe but reduced the simple from 1/2 oz to 1/3 oz. So that's 2 oz aged tequila, 3/4 oz lemon juice, 1/2 oz apricot liqueur, 1/3 oz simple syrup, 1 dash Angostura bitters, lemon peel garnish. The aged tequila (the recipe calls for reposado but I used an older expression, Siete Leguas añejo) is able to neutralize the candy taste of the R&W apricot liqueur. Instead you get ripe apricot, with spice and smoke from the tequila. Very drinkable while being enjoyably complex.

Yes, I planned it this way. ;-)

I like Niman Ranch's as well (they used to sell it at Trader Joe's, but I haven't seen it lately). Benton's is good but heavily smoked, and I am not always in the mood for that. Most of the time though, I buy bacon from my local butcher shop (they cure and smoke it in house), or use homecured. Much better than most commercial brands.

Yeah, me too. After cotton candy-flavored vodka, here comes the coffee-flavored Japanese whisky... But that did not seem right. Coffey is actually a type of continuous (column) still. The grain is mainly corn.

Picking up where I left things off - more cocktails with Japanese whisky. Talent Scout variation with Miyagikyo single malt Japanese whisky (10 years), dry curacao, Boker's bitters. I had this one before with bourbon a bunch of times . Very different with the Miyagikyo, obviously. Quite intense, with lots of spice and smoke in the (dry) finish. The Pierre Ferrand dry curacao did not completely mesh with the fruit in the Miyagikyo. Tattletale variation with Miyagikyo Japanese whisky, dogwood honey, Boker's bitters. This is based on a cocktail recipe that uses a mix of Highland and Islay scotch. The honey has a very distinctive flavor so this was really interesting. I liked it better than the Talent Scout.

Welcome to eGullet, Melinda. Now you have me craving a Martinez. I haven't had one in ages. From Trader Joe's, an assortment of beers. La Fin du Monde and Saison Rue are favorites. I've enjoyed the intense pine-hop aroma of the Stone Enjoy By that I've had on tap, so I got a bottle. The Stone Porter is usually good so we will see how this vanilla bean version tastes like (sounds a bit scary to be honest, but the reviews are pretty good). The SheGöat from the Bruery's Preservation Series is completely new to me. It's a German Weizenbock-style beer. Also, not from the liquor store, but a gift from a friend... Nikka's grain whisky. I was pretty excited when I realized what it was.

Last night's salad was blood oranges, dates, and parmesan. The greens were a mix of baby arugula and freckle lettuce, and the nuts were hazelnuts.

Last night's dinner was local mahi mahi with new potatoes, meyer lemon, and creme fraiche.

Thanks Hassouni. I will do that as the last step if I have too much sediment left.

It will just stay here so the embarrassment is complete. :-) Very nice summary. Seems like an interesting clientele too. Could it be the Harry Palmer? Or was it gin-based?

I bought some really nice ginger and started my first batch of falernum last night. I used Adam E's recipe. I could not justify buying more bottles of rum (cabinets are already overflowing) so I went with Bacardi for the white, in an attempt to finish a Costco-size bottle which I inherited and has been collecting dust for years, and Whaler's for the dark. We will see how it goes. What does everyone use to filter? I was going to use a fine metal strainer followed by a nylon mesh, similar to what I've been doing for orgeat.

Sadly the public market is now closed. With its difficult location, it never really took off. Thankfully, there are still plenty of excellent farmers' markets in San Diego.

With the suspended fruit technique, you mostly get the essential oils from the skin rather than the bitter compounds from the pith that you extract when you immerse the whole citrus. There is something in France called "confiture de vieux garçon " (old bachelor's macerated fruits) which is basically a maceration of whole fruit in eau de vie. Delicious and pretty too, as you can build various fruit layers in your jar. That's typically done with done with stone fruit and berries though, not citrus.

From the bill:

Here are more details about the scope of this new safety law (from this document from the California Restaurant Association):

A new food safety law became effective this year in California which requires cooks to wear single-use gloves (or use utensils) when handling any "ready-to-eat" ingredients. See this article in the LA Times and also this one about the impact on bartenders. This means that cooks will have to use gloves or utensils to plate dishes, or that sushi chefs will have to handle fish and cooked rice with gloves. It also means that bartenders will need to wear gloves when handling ice and garnishes. Cooking is a very tactile experience and I can imagine how much frustration this is going to generate for cooks (and bartenders). I will be curious to see how this gets implemented. The article mentions that there may be circumstances under which an exemption is granted ("Restaurants can apply for an exemption by fulfilling strict requirements for training and written guidelines") - hopefully that can help minimize the impact.

Karl Strauss Full Suit Belgian Brown Ale. Malty, a little sweet. Pretty good but not unforgettable by any means. I like this quote from their press release: